In a column written for the Wall Street Journal, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito responded to the charges leveled against him by ProPublica, a news nonprofit organization that masquerades as a news organization and that is funded by an array of leftist foundations.
ProPublica has an ongoing relationship with the Anchorage Daily News, which it financially has supported in recent years in support of “investigative” journalism.
The ProPublica charges that Justice Alito should have recused himself from cases involving any entity connected with billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer, and that Alito also failed to list certain items as gifts on his 2008 Financial Disclosure Report. These items relate to a fishing trip Alito took to Alaska.
Alito defended his participation in the Alaska fishing trip 15 years ago, against the allegations from ProPublica that his actions constituted a conflict of interest.
Justice Alito stated in writing that he has only engaged in minimal social interaction with Mr. Singer. Beyond a casual conversation during the fishing trip, he had spoken to Singer on a handful of occasions at large group events, without any discussion of Singer’s business activities or any court cases.
“My recollection is that I have spoken to Mr. Singer on no more than a handful of occasions, all of which (with the exception of small talk during a fishing trip 15 years ago) consisted of brief and casual comments at events attended by large groups. On no occasion have we discussed the activities of his businesses, and we have never talked about any case or issue before the Court. On two occasions, he introduced me before I gave a speech—as have dozens of other people. And as I will discuss, he allowed me to occupy what would have otherwise been an unoccupied seat on a private flight to Alaska. It was and is my judgment that these facts would not cause a reasonable and unbiased person to doubt my ability to decide the matters in question impartially,” Alito wrote today in the Wall Street Journal.
Alito wrote that the transportation to Alaska was not required to be reported, according to guidelines in effect at the time.
Alito said that accepting the plane seat imposed no cost on Singer, and saved the taxpayers money, since he did not have to fly with a U.S. Marshal, as he would have had he flown commercial.
The justice spent three nights in a “modest one-room unit” at the King Salmon Lodge, a rustic facility offering home-style meals. Alito wrote that the trip, characterized by ProPublica as lavish and exclusive, was misleadingly portrayed.
Alito also said his staff does a thorough check of parties involved in each case he handled, in line with Supreme Court Rule 29.6. Singer’s name did not appear in any of the corporate disclosure statements or the certiorari petitions, making it impossible for him to have known about Singer’s involvement.
The justice wrote that even if he had been aware of Singer’s connection to the entities involved in the cases, recusal would not have been required or appropriate. During his tenure on the Court, he has reviewed approximately 100,000 certiorari petitions, and it is not feasible for him or his staff to conduct extensive searches of the names of every single individual with a financial interest in every entity named as a party in the thousands of cases brought before them each year.
The instructions for completing a financial disclosure report, until recently, did not require reporting of personal hospitality extended for non-business purposes by individuals. Transportation facilities, such as the flight to Alaska in 2008, were not considered reportable gifts. Such a flight was a standard practice in 2008.
ProPublica is not so much a journalism entity, but a massive left-wing activist organization of writers. It started in 2007 with two employees and now has more than 100. It’s received funding from George Soros’ Foundation to Promote Open Society, and a host of other groups, such as the Sandler Foundation, which gave the founding gift to ProPublica, the Kerfuffle Foundation, and the Crankstart Foundation, the family foundation of Sequoia Capital partner Michael Moritz. Sequoia Capital is where crypto crook Sam Bankman-Fried got his start before he formed FTX. Sequoia Capital was one of his major investors. Bankman-Fried is accused of taking money from investors and gave it to Democrat candidates and causes, such as the Alaska Democratic Party and Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s campaign. Read about ProPublica’s funding sources at InfluenceWatch.org.
Photo credit: The above photo was obtained by ProPublica, but the organization did not reveal how it obtained the photo who who it belongs to. It shows Alito in the center, Singer on the right, and an unknown companion on the left.
